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Oasis Islands presidential election, 2013

The 2013 Oasis Islands Presidential Election was a federal election in the Republic of the Oasis Islands with the purpose to elect the President and Vice President of the Oasis Islands. The general election took place on November 6, 2013. Nominating contests for the Oasis People's Party occurred on September 24, 2013, nominating incumbent President Casey Hamlin and his running mate, incumbent Vice President Titus Smith. The Oasis Conservative Party did not nominate a candidate, leaving an open field against Hamlin. The gap was filled by political commentator Laura Horsley and her running mate, Navy sailor Gregory Bradley.

The campaign was mostly marked by the Horsley/Bradley campaign' focus on attacking Hamlin's personal character and questionable ethics, while the Hamlin/Smith campaign had refused to respond to these attacks and has campaigned on a platform of experience and moderate political views, painting Horsley as unqualified and too liberal for the nation.

The early campaign also was dominated by Hamlin attempting to recapture his high approval ratings after a nosedive resulting from his support of a military strike in the Syrian Civil War. Throughout the course of the campaign, his approval ratings have improved and are nearly back to the levels they were at before they dropped. As the campaign has progressed, polling had shown Hamlin and Smith's lead increasing among voters and citizens, but have shown the ticket behind Horsley in polls of intermicronational leaders.

On November 6th, Hamlin won a landslide victory over Horsley, taking four out of six states and walking away with 76.2% of the vote. Hamlin attributed his victory Horsley's attack tactics, believing that they made her less likable then himself. He also cited the experience factor and how his more moderated approach struck a chord with undecided voters. Celebration over the victory was simmered down as hours after the results were announced, Vice President Smith announced his departure from the People's Party to form the United Leftist Party, causing massive party shuffling in order to maintain the party majority and a major push to the right for the Party's official policy.

Candidates

Incumbent President Casey Hamlin of Oasis announced his candidacy for the nomination of the Oasis People's Party early into his first term. Shortly before the primaries however, he voiced his support for a military strike in Syria, causing his approval rating to drop to the low forties. At this point, many urged the anti-strike Vice President Titus Smith of Costa Dorada to run in the primary against Hamlin, though he refused to do so and announced his intention to run for re-election as part of the Hamlin / Smith ticket. On September 24, 2013, Hamlin and Smith unanimously won the primaries to represent the People's Party in the general election.

Although many speculated that the quickly fading Secretary of Defense Daniel Stefanko of Serenity Island would make a run, he later refused to do so and endorsed Hamlin, leaving the Conservative Party with no candidate. With this, a void was created to challenge Hamlin, which was taken by independent candidate Laura Horsley of Oasis and her running mate Greg Bradley of Serenity Island, who are running a more liberal campaign than Hamlin.

Speculated candidates

General election

Incumbent Casey Hamlin faced off against independent challenger Laura Horsley. Although the two are generally regarded as friends, Horsley has repeatedly attacked Hamlin as "corrupt" while Hamlin is counted on his experience to pull him through. Although Hamlin had been shown to be struggling with Conservative Party voters, he is flexing his socially liberal bona fides while retaining his fiscally conservative credentials. Hamlin and his running mate Titus Smith had refused to publicly address the charges of corruption and complicity of corruption, believing it to be a distraction. A notable rift had also been shown between Hamlin and Smith, with Smith notably refusing to support a Syrian military strike (which Hamlin heavily supported) and Smith taking noticeably more liberal stance on many issues.

Horsley ran on almost a purely liberal campaign advocating the eradication of firearms, stronger rights for the LGBT community (which she accused the openly gay Hamlin of not doing enough about) and a minimum wage higher than the $4.00 an hour wage that currently exists. The Grant Arms Company and Middle Branch Media, the two largest companies in the nation, have both come out against the idea, although many individual Islanders approve the proposal. She has chosen Gregory Bradley of Serenity Island to be her running mate.

The Hamlin/Smith ticket ran a moderated campaign, running on the ideas of fiscal conservatism such as low to no taxes, minimum wages that will not hurt businesses and low spending while at the same time advocating socially liberal ideas such as LGBT rights, limited gun safety laws and greater social equality. A central theme of their campaign was the levels of experience between them in micronational politics, something they claimed Horsley nor Bradley possessed. Of Horsley, Hamlin has said that "electing her [Horsley] would be just like electing another [Daniel] Stefanko. Look what happened then. We [the Hamlinian Republic became inactive and unstable, resorted to autocracy and finally collapsed."

On November 6, Hamlin defeated Horsley in a landslide victory, receiving 76.2% of the popular vote and carrying 4 out of 6 states. Horsely received just 23.%, and carried only 2 states.

Polling

Most polling conducted showed Hamlin as the frontrunner in the race and showed him possessing the ability to easily secure re-election. Only one poll, which was conducted by the Horsley campaign itself, showed Horsley leading Hamlin by double digits. It was soon revealed however that the polling targeted only Horsley's voting base and included Horsley and Bradley themselves and highly discredited.

Results

At 5:09pm EST on November 6, 2013, Oasis Island News called the race for Hamlin after he was projected to win Oasis, Costa Dorada and Loonshore Island, only losing Europa and Serenity Island (he would go on to win Hamlinia after the projection was made). In all, he won 16 votes to Horsley's 5 in a landslide victory for him. At about 6:10pm, Horsley conceded the race in an email, congratulating both Hamlin and Smith for their victory. In a post-election interview, Hamlin attributed his ticket's success with the constant personal attacks on him and his record of moderation and experience. The second inauguration of the President took place on December 1, 2013, right after the President returned from a visit to Ohio. Horsley went on to serve as Director of Environmental Affairs while Bradley went on to serve as Director of Public Health and Safety before his death on November 26, 2014.